Hopper-car.



F. L. BARBER & E. W. WEBB.

HOPPER CAB.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 30.1914.

'1 1 gg gg 1 o Patented Apr. 6, 1.915.

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- F. L. BARBER & E. W. WEBB.

Patented Apr 6, 1915.

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HOPPER CAR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 30,1914. I 1 1 3%25 1 a Patented Apr. 6, 1915.

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' HOPPER CAR- APPLICATION FILED OCT 30,1914- LMQQM o Patented Apr, 6, 1915.

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BY THE/R A770RNEY$ WIT/M55555 E @WMZ N z/w MM tin-inn -as earner oriuon,

FRANHJN Ii. BARBER AND EDWIN WEBB, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS T'O STANDARD GAE TRUCK COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW HOPPER-CAR.

Application filed October so, i914. Serial no. scares.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANKLIN L. BAR- BER and EDWIN W. WEBB, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hopper-Cars; and we do hereby declare the. following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our present invention relates to cars of the hopper type,and more particularly, to steel hopper cars wherein the hoppers are provided with drop bottoms or doors. The tendency of present railway service is to demand greater and greater carrying capacity in cars of the above noted type. On many roads, such cars have already been increased in height and width as muchv as safe clearance will permit, and in most instances, the

cars have been increased to as great a length as thought practicable or desirable. In our improved car, the carrying capacity thereof, has been increased by lowering of the hoppers; and this has been made possible by the provision of improved door hanging and operating means. Hitherto, it has been a common practice to hinge the drop doors of these hoppers at their upper edges so that when swung downward, they would droptoward the track a distance represented by the width of the door. Our improved door hanging and operating device causes the doors to swing into open positions with a compound lateral and edgewise movement that causes the outer edges of the doors to rise, and the lower edges of the doors to drop but slightly. J 7

lln the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views. Referring to the drawings: Figures 1 and 2 are supplemental plan views, the former showing about one-half, to-wit, the left hand half or the car, while Fig. 2 shows the other half, to-wit, the right hand half of the car,

some parts being removed, and some parts, being sectioned in said Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view chiefly in side elevation, but with some parts sectioned, some parts broken awayand some parts indicated in diagram, showing a portion of our improved car; and Fig. l 1s a transverse, section taken approximately on the line at m on 3.

()f the parts of the car, the numeral 1 indicates the main or body bin which is carlied on a steel underfr'ame structure 2, all of any suitable construction. In Fig. 3, one of the car wheels is indicated by the numeral 3,'and one of the rails by the numeral 4. In hopper cars of this character, it is customary to divide the lower portion of the bin 1 by a slightly raised longitudinally" extended arch 5, and to drop the hoppers 6 down from the bin in transversely alined pairs on opposite. sides of the longitudinal center of Patented n t. as, rare.

the center sills of the underframe structure.

Hitherto, it has not been practicable to drop these hoppers bodily below the sills of the underframe structure, because of the clearance required for the downwardly swinging pivoted orhinged doors generally employed. In our improved car illustrated, however, (see particularly Fig. 3) these hoppers 6 are dropped bodily a considerable distance below the car sills or underframe structure, and hence, materially increase the carrying capacity of the car.

The hoppers 6 are provided with drop bottoms, each made up of a pair of trap doors 7, the inner edges of which closely abut when the doors are-closed, and the outer edges of which are connected to the hoppers, by means of sliding hinge connections, preferabl constructed as follows: On

each trap door is a pair of outwardly projecting hinge lugs 8, which, at their ends, are provided with loose rotary trun'nions 9 projecting from both sides thereof. lLhe said trunnions 9 are arranged to pivot and slide in oblique grooves 10 of bifurcated hinge brackets 11 that are rigidly secured on the front and rear sides of the hopper 6. The hinge rooves 10 are preferably curved, substantially as shown in Fig. 3.

-The doors 7 are preferably reinforced steel gether and may be operated by a common lifting connection applied to the central por tion of the said beam. Any suitable means may be employed for raising the doors and for holding the same in closed positions, but for this purpose, we have shown chams 16 attached to the-intermediate portions of'said beams, passed over idle guide sheaves 17 and attached to a Windlass drum 18. The said idle sheaves 17 are located under the bin arch 5 and are loosely ,journaled on a short shaft 19 mounted in suitable bearings on the underframe structure. The drums 18 are also located under the bin arch 5, and they are secured to an operating shaft 20 located outside of the coiiperating bin,

journaled in suitable bearings on the underframe structure, and provided at its outer end with a ratchet wheel 21 normally held against rotation b a lock dog 22.

In Fig. 3, the oors of theleft hand bin are shown as secured in closed positions, while doors of the right hand bin are opened and dropped as far down as they will go. Normally, the drop doors 7 are supported,

not on the trunnions. 12, but by chains or other door lifting and holding devices. When the doors are dropped slightly, however, the load is transferred onto the trunnions 12; and here it is important to note that the said trunnions are located more than half way outward between the inner and outer edges of the door, so that the preponderance of weight of the load on the doors will be on the lower or inner portions thereof, and this weight will, therefore, tend to force the inner edges downward and the up. per edges upward, rocking said doors on the links, as fulcrums. Also, it isimportant to note that in their normal or initial positions, the door suspending links;13 have their pivoted upper ends spread farther, than their lower ends, so that the weight on the links will tend to swing the same apart, and thus 'doors open with a compound swlnging movement in which, as their lower orinner edges move downward and separate, the outer or upper edges of the doors are caused torise, due to the movements of the trunnions 9 in the cam grooves or .slotslO, while the doors rock in the trunnions 12. The obliquity of the said slots carries the doors away from the hoppers while iding the outer edges thereof upward. 0 course, the doors swing toward closed positions by reversed movements, whenever the lower or inner edge portions thereof are raised'by the chains or other devices. The above de scribed opening and closing movements of the doors makes it possible to obtain the proper door opening movement with a very slight drop of the lower orinner edges of the doors. By comparison of the two posivery greatly assist in the initial opening tions of the doors shown in Fig. 3, it will be noted that when the door is in an open posi ured longitudinally of the ear. Thus it is evident that with this improved arrange ment, the hoppers may be carried much lower than hoppers provided with doors connected, by ordinary hinges. Asthese hoppers are of considerable size and are dropped to a considerable distance lower than the ordinary hoppers, it is, of course, evident that the carrying capacity of .the car is materially increased -without increasing the height, width, or length of the car body. The slots in the hanger links 13, in cooperation with the trunnions 12, support the doors in such manner that they may be raised slightly and into tight engagement with the bottom of the hopper, after they have been swung approximately to closed positions.

What we claim is: v

1. The combination with a car having a depending hopper, of trap doors normally closing the bottom of said hopper, upwardly extended door guides fixed in respect to said hopper, and to which thedoors are connecttheir outer edges, links pivoted to said hoppers and doors and having play in the pivotal connections'to one .of the said parts for permitting the doors to be raised after they have been swung to approximately closed positions, to thereby relieve the-links from the weight of the load, and means independent of said links for raising and holding the doors in closed positions. v

' 2. The combination with a car having a depending hopper, of trap doors normally closing .the bottom of said hopper, door guides fixed in respect to said hopper, and to which said doors are connected for pivotal and sliding movements at their outer edges, links pivotally supported at their upper ends and pivotally connected at their lowerends to the intermediate end portions of said doors and coiiperating with the said guides to cause the outer edges of said doors when said doors are moved from closed into open positions, the pivoted upper ends of the links supporting cooperating doors having a greater spread than the lower ends thereof, when said doors are closed, and the pivotal connections between said doors and the lower ends ofsaid links being more than one-half way outward between the inner and outer edges thereof. I

3. The combination with a car having a depending hopper, of trap doors normally closing the bottom of said hopper, oblique door guides fixed in respect to said hopper and to which the doors are connected for pivotal and sliding movements at their outer meensi edges, links pivotally connected to said hoppers and doors and having play in their pivotal connections to said doors, so that the said links are relieved from the weight of the doors when the latter are closed, and

means for raising the doors and holding the same in closed positions.

In testimony whereof We nflix our signetures in presence of two witnesses.

FRANKLIN 1L. BARBER. EDWIN W. WEBB. Witnesses:

MABEL G. LAW, (Ones S. WAmoNo 

